By Ben Kerrigan-
Former prime minister, Gordon Brown, has dreamt up a Federalist ideology for the Uk to solve the Scottish referendum dispute.
Brown wants Holyrood to be given sweeping powers after Brexit as a “third way” alternative to independence. That may not be an entirely bad idea except that under his plans Scotland will still be out of the EU- a scenario Sturgeon currently sees as an absolute nightmare they are being forced into. Scotland is part of the Uk, so the expectation that Scotland considers their Brexit fate inevitable should in some sense be normal. However, the same way Britain sees Brexit as the fast route to their total independence, judicially and in every other way, Scotland’s prime minister also thinks the UK’s decision to leave the EU is such a bad idea that she wants her people to be able to vote for their own independence too.
Opinion polls suggest that the mood in Scotland is currently against another vote, though all it might take may be some assertive propaganda to win Scottish minds back over to entertain the idea of what could create more problems and complications than offer solutions. Gordon Brown has turned up again to wave a magic wand and try and solve the problem.
Brown proposes a federal state for the UK, with the Scottish parliament taking control over fisheries, farming, welfare and far more taxation, once EU powers are returned to the UK.
Speaking at an event in his home town of Kirkcaldy, the academic genius, who has been both chancellor and prime minister in the u.k, believes that federalism would be the “Scottish patriotic” solution to the conflict over independence between the Tories in London and the Scottish National party in Edinburgh.
“You can call it a more federalist option; you can call it in the more traditional way Scottish home rule; you can call it the federal home rule. I’m calling it the third option – a Scottish patriotic way forward,” he said.
“A new third option can unify our country and end the bitter and divisive yes-versus-no conflict that will continue to rip us apart. It is time to transcend the bitter division and extremism of an inflexible, die-hard conservatism at war with an intransigent and even more hardline nationalism.”
URGE
Brown’s speech was also an expression of his inner urge to intervene in the disagreement between Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon’s over the latter’s push for a second vote in Scotland over independence for the Scottish in the wake of a hard Brexit.
Brown had made similar promises before the 2014 independence referendum about “transformational change” and “near as possible federalism” if Scotland voted to stay in the UK. “We are very, very far from that,” Robertson said. “I don’t take this seriously at all.”
Sturgeon’s request to repatriate £800m worth of EU farming, universities and social chapter funding to Scotland has already been rejected by Theresa May, making Brown’s suggestion more of a fantasy than reality. Unless of course, Bown aims to pressure May into accepting his proposal, or suggest that Ms May is being stubborn and inflexible, something he has not yet said. Brown’s
Brown’s proposes for Scottish labour leader, Kezia Dugdale, to push the policies forward as a substitute for independence. An implementation of those policies will be beneficial to the UK and decentralise power across all regions in the Uk, according to the idea being advanced by Gordon Brown and supported almost unanimously at Scottish Labour’s annual conference last month. It has also been given the thumbs up by the UK Labour party’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, and other senior party figures, but Dugdale has been struggling to get explicit support for it from Jeremy Corbyn.
FEDERAL HOME RULE
Brown said a system of federal “home rule” would allow the Scottish parliament to control key policies under the UK’s umbrella, including industrial investment. That would allow it to pool and share spending and protect Scotland’s more fragile economy against shocks.
The Bank of England would be reorganised as a federal institution with Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish representation, while the defence, foreign affairs, pensions and basis welfare powers would be controlled at UK level.
FRIGHTENING
Under Brexit, Scotland’s exclusion from the British single market is a frightening prospect for clued up Scottish politicians, especially their first minister, Sturgeon which. About one million jobs and £50bn worth of exports depend on the single market.
Robertson, the SNP’s Westminster leader, agreed that the proposal would appeal to some voters, but insisted that Labour was too divided and powerless, that it was incapable of implementing it. Labour will first need to be in power to execute the idea; making it infeasible if that is an unchangeable requirement.
“The Labour party is not in a position to deliver a pizza at the moment,” he said. “We have to understand what is going on is we have a government in Scotland elected with a mandate to hold a referendum in the circumstances of Scotland being taken out of the EU against its will. That is what is happening at the present time.”
Robertson said Holyrood would vote next week by a majority to back Sturgeon’s call for the powers to stage a new referendum, and the prime minister should start talks with Sturgeon on its timing.